From left, Amanda Massimini, Teal Ericson and Jake Weaver.

Ericson, Massimini, Weaver Share Honors

First-year McGeorge students Teal Ericson (University of Nevada), Amanda Massimini (University of Arizona), and Jake Weaver (CSU Sacramento) won top honors and scholarship awards in the 17th annual Ben Frantz Mock Trial Competition, which concluded on March 3.

The three winners emerged from a field of 55 new students who entered the preliminary rounds of the competition that began in February. New awards for this year's event included: Best Opening: Vincent Wiraatmadja; Best Closing: Shannon Lacey; Best Direct: Veronica Long, Best Cross: Gregory Hayes; and Best Decorum: Jacob Smith.

Michelle Wells, ’12, and Kendra Bertschy, ’12, coordinated the competition, which has become a major feeder program for McGeorge’s nationally ranked mock trial team. Past winners active on the law school’s current intercollegiate team include Stephanie Aarseth, ’12, David Norton, ’13, Shani Roark, ’12, Hunter Starr, ’13, and Michelle Trigger, ’12.

The mock trial competition is named after the late McGeorge Professor Ben Frantz, whose generous gift endowed and initiated the event back in 1996. Current mock trial team members led workshops on various aspects of trial examination at a seminar on Feb. 14, 2012, and preliminary rounds were held on Feb. 24, 25, 2012.